


Play with Fire

by xNebulaPrincessx



Category: Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)
Genre: Everybody Lives, F/M, Fix-It, Fix-it fic, M/M, Mentions of Sex, Multi, Strong Language, fuck canon amiright, i'll give warnings in the beginning of chapters for anything awful, it's cyberpunk there's a lot, johnny silverhand deserves better, just this once, post act 3 everyone lives, post-canon ending, so im going to give him better, well...
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-16 01:01:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28698093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xNebulaPrincessx/pseuds/xNebulaPrincessx
Summary: V has everything under control. He's not dying. He and Kerry are still going strong. He's now the King of the Afterlife. And Johnny Silverhand is alive and in his own body. He's not forgetting anything...or is he? V and Johnny are still processing being alive in their own bodies, so when a certain woman from V's past comes back into the picture, there's a new learning curve. Valarie. His nomad sister.Post-Canon Fix It Fic from The Sun EndingV is a nomad to corpo V.
Relationships: Female V/River Ward, Johnny Silverhand/Female V, Kerry Eurodyne/Male V
Comments: 6
Kudos: 109





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Strong language ahead, my friends, this is cyberpunk. Always open to adding triggers if I miss any as well. Cyberpunk (and Johnny Silverhand) own my very soul so here's me going absolutely feral in writing a fix-it fic. Canon is dead and I'm here to fix it.

4307 hours, 258420 minutes and 15505200.1 seconds. 5.9 months. That’s how long it took to get Johnny back. Not just in V’s head, but actually _back_ . Not only did V focus on getting his own body to stop slowly dying from the _lack_ of Johnny’s biochip in his head, he also focused on how he would get Johnny back. The fucker grew on him...or _in_ him, for better use of the terms.   
Johnny was a parasite that not only slowly killed V by means not of his own volition, but also slithered his way into V’s heart. Hell, the only reason V came back to his body instead of giving the thing to Johnny was because he gave control to Johnny at Arasaka Tower. V looked over at the man now...in the flesh and not just a fucked up construct in his head that only he could see and hear.   
  
Johnny was leaning on the railing to V’s penthouse apartment. The sun was slowly setting on Night City, and despite V being almost next door (or next skyscraper) to her old apartment, there was something so _surreal_ about the scene. Johnny had an unlit cigarette in his mouth and was just leaning on the guardrail, looking at the city with a silent awe. His sunglasses were on top of his head and there was a sort of peace about it all. V blinked as a message came into view. V let out a soft sigh, turning back around and walking into the house.   
  
V was going through his clients and fixers. After everything that happened at Arasaka, V was suddenly thrown back into his body. A living legend. Something V had wanted for a long time...and it felt strange. V was still learning how to live with being a legend. Taking over Afterlife and Rogue’s legacy was a lot more difficult than V had imagined. V hadn’t even imagined becoming a fixer himself...and now there he was. Every other fixer didn’t want Rogue’s position, and most of them now came to V for things. It was all just so...much more than what he expected. V kind of expected to die and become a legend, not live to tell the tale of his escapades. He was alive and now people whispered and tried to fuck him over far more often than he wanted to be fucked. V grumbled once more, throwing himself onto the couch. Kerry was on tour with the Us Cracks for another day and V _desperately_ wanted to actually be fucked instead of having to deal with others who were trying to fuck him in a non-sexy way.   
  
“Bein’ a fixer a lot more difficult than you expect?” Johnny asked, pulling V’s attention to the door where Johnny leaned against. V let out a small grunt, looking back up at the ceiling. “I doubt Rogue ever took a fuckin’ break, but you aren’t Rogue. You can make new rules.” Johnny muttered, walking over and leaning over the couch, looking down at V. V looked up at him, suddenly mesmerized by how he actually cast a shadow...how he didn’t glitch when he talked. How he couldn’t just materialize his sunglasses and how stupid he looked with them on the top of his head. “Take a break before you burn yourself out. Didn’t go through all that trouble to clone a new body just to fuck it up by working too hard.” Johnny muttered. V stared at him for a moment longer and sighed.   
  
“There’s still a lot of shit I gotta deal with.” V grumbled, rubbing his eyes. “Ya know, I didn’t just get a fuckin’ manual of how to be a fixer and how to run shit smoothly.” V said, looking back up at Johnny. Johnny didn’t say anything, his mind obviously going back to what happened at Arasaka tower...the reason why V was a fixer now and not just a merc. Rogue was dead. Silence filled the air. V sat up and touched Johnny’s hand. Johnny didn’t say a word at the action. Didn’t move his hand either. It was weird being able to physically touch Johnny. Even weirder not to hear his stupid voice rattling around his head, but to _actually_ hear it. Even without the fucker being in his head, he just _knew_ shit with Johnny. That’s what happens when you share a brain and see into the other’s head and soul’s.The two had been through enough shit for a lifetime...and here they both were...living and alive. Clones of what they once were, but both alive.   
  
About 5 months into looking at ways for V not to just kick the bucket in the coming month, V decided to take up street fighting. The first place V fought was a little rooftop in Kabuki. There, he fought these two twins that were the same but different. They had split their personalities into two different bodies so that they were two different people but still 1 person. It made V feel hopeful. Sure, they were twins to begin with, but seeing how identical they looked, V got the idea of clones. V called up Hanako who didn’t answer, but V left a voicemail, explaining his reasoning for the call. Then he called Takemura who also didn’t answer. Arasaka fuckers were hard to track down, especially since what V was asking was a lot.   
  
V wanted a new body _and_ he wanted Johnny’s engram back, Johnny on the chip...and then a clone of Johnny. It was a big request, especially wanting to bring a literal terrorist against Arasaka back to life...So, like a rational person, V broke back into Arasaka Tower, took Johnny’s engram back and booked it the fuck back to Vik’s. Then V had to go into Cyberspace to find the fucker, so he had to get some help from the Voodoo Boys to get back to the blackwall. Then he had to find him in Cyberspace and throw his ass back into an engram. Alt luckily let him leave willingly, even telling V to make sure when switching out his own engram into a clone to be quick, otherwise he would flatline. The next thing V had to do was find someone to copy Johnny’s DNA and then find out about clones. In less than 2 weeks...while trying to run the Afterlife...and dying. Kerry was a real lifesaver when it came to those 5+ months. Always helpful. Helping buy the best people to make identical clones of both V and Johnny. Fuck he missed the stupid rockstar.   
  
“Mind if I use that little Arasaka AV to get the fuck off this little penthouse oasis?” Johnny asked, pulling V from his own thoughts.   
  
“Got a hot date er somethin’?” V asked back with a smirk. Johnny returned the smirk.   
  
“Wouldn’t you like to know.” Johnny teased back. V let himself chuckle, waving his hand towards the front door.   
  
“All yours, Silverhand. There’s a key by the door...you know, so your old ass is able to get in it.” V snarked, standing up and grabbing a bottle of Centzon off the end table in front of him. Johnny didn’t have any modifications, minus his new cybernetic arm. His old one was a few decades outdated and despite V’s own cloned body being perfect, something in Johnny’s DNA left him without his left arm...Johnny didn’t seem to mind the new arm. Didn’t seem to mind the new body either. Apparently his cock was still impressive and that was all he really cared about. “Don’t go nukin’ any Arasaka towers.” V teased as Johnny started walking over to the front door. V looked over and saw his middle finger up in the air as he grabbed the key from the door. V sighed, hearing the doors slide shut behind Johnny and the AV starting up and flying off. V sat back on the couch and closed his eyes.

* * *

“Open the fucking door you fucking gonk!” Johnny shot up from his spot on the couch at the sudden pounding and screaming at the door. V got a new penthouse and lovingly gave Johnny his shithole of an apartment. Another louder pounding of the door followed as Johnny got up from the couch which he had fallen asleep on after eating far too much Chinese food. “I swear to fuckin’ GOD VINCENT FLOWERS!” The pounding of the door was somehow even louder as the woman’s voice continued to scream against it. _Vincent Flowers_ ? Ooh V would not like to know some lady was saying his full name. Johnny was sure V only swung one way, but with the way this chick was banging on the door, it sounded like V had wronged her. _Bad_ . Johnny opened the door mid-pounding, forcing the woman behind it to stumble forward into the apartment.   
  
“Take it easy, princess.” Johnny smirked as the woman let out a sharp huff, glaring up at him. She had red hair, a red and black trenchcoat. At least she matched. “What do I owe the pleasure of-” Johnny started before the woman kicked his feet out from under him, straddling his chest once on the ground and holding a gun against his forehead. He could have sworn he heard someone mutter something outside the door, but it slid shut before he could even process anything that was going on.   
  
“Vincent Flowers. Vince. V. Whatever the fuck he goes by. Where the fuck is he?” The woman snarled lowly back down at him. Johnny stared back up at her, his hands going up in defense as his breath came back from being knocked out of him. Still not used to that feeling either.   
  
“Who’s askin’?” The words came out far more growled than Johnny had meant. He had only had his body for about a week and now he was gonna lose it to some redheaded woman for being protective over V? Yeah that seemed about right. Kinda figured he’s flatline under a woman.   
  
“His _sister_ .” The woman said through clenched teeth, glaring back down at him. Johnny’s brows furrowed as he stared up at her. V was around Johnny’s height, maybe a centimetre shorter than him, but this woman had to only be about 5’4”. Her hair looked long with how big her stupid space buns looked. V had dark black hair, while this woman had dark red hair. V didn’t have any tints of red in his hair. The only thing the two had in common were freckles across their nose, though this woman’s freckles were far darker than V’s and...her eyes. _Their_ eyes. Purple. Johnny blinked.   
  
“I don’t remember you.” Johnny muttered aloud, more to himself than to the woman. Johnny had been in the prick’s fucking head for over a month, seeing his memories, feeling his feelings, and not once did he remember this little redheaded bitch in the fucker’s memories. Johnny stared at her for a moment longer before she punched him in the nose. “ _Fuck_ .” Johnny grumbled at the sudden pain.   
  
“ _Tell me!_ ” The woman snapped pushing the gun now fully against his forehead. It felt warm. Like she had used it recently, but not so recent that it burned. “Where the fuck is V?” The woman said with a low growl, getting closer to Johnny’s face. “Where is my brother?” The woman asked, sounding a little less hostile at her own words. Johnny watched as her guard went down for a minute before slamming his head into hers. The woman let out a sharp hiss from the pain as Johnny took the opportunity to shove her off of him and quickly rush over to where he kept his gun. Gunfire filled the little apartment as Johnny dove over the couches and grabbed his own gun from the coffee table, staying low to keep from the gunfire.   
  
“Why are you lookin’ for him?” Johnny asked loudly, as the gunfire stopped for a moment. Johnny glimpsed over the couch before ducking and falling below where the couch ended and the step was to keep himself from being shot as she fired a few more shots.   
  
“I’m worried about the fucker.” The woman snapped back. “He went fucking dark about 8 months ago. Not a fucking word. Dropped off the face of the planet.” The woman explained. Johnny made sure his gun was loaded before quickly rushing over to the bed and jumping on it, to keep himself from being shot, firing a few warning shots back at the woman. “Is he alive?” The woman asked, her tone softening at the question. A moment of weakness. Johnny tossed a pillow towards the couch, watching it get blown to bits from gunfire, helping him figure out where she was by the way the fluff blew out of the pillow. Johnny’s ears perked up at the sound of clicking near the bathroom, knowing she had emptied her clip. Now or never. Johnny quickly rushed around the bed wall and the bathroom wall, grabbing onto the woman’s wrist, hitting the gun from her hand before flipping her over his shoulder and onto the ground, aiming his gun down at her now. The woman glared back up at him as Johnny kicked the gun towards the couches, away from this little hellfire.   
  
“He’s alive.” Johnny said, watching her glare subside for a moment as a wave of relief washed over her.   
  
“Good.” The woman sighed, staring back up at Johnny before reaching and pulling out another gun from just under her chest from a gun holster and aimed it back at him. _Fuck._ “Valley.” The woman said, staring back up at Johnny, expecting an introduction. Johnny found himself chuckling.   
  
“Johnny.” Johnny introduced himself. Maybe she really was V’s brother. Valley. _Valley._ This name didn’t sound familiar, but when he thought back of his time in V’s brain, he _felt_ it was familiar. “V doesn’t live here anymore.” Johnny explained, keeping his gun trained on the woman. The woman let out an annoyed huff, setting her gun down to her side, staring up at the ceiling.   
  
“You know where he is?” The woman, Valley, asked, looking defeated as she lay on her back on the ground. Johnny slowly lowered his gun. “I just want to see how he is...not just hear it.” Valley muttered, looking back up at Johnny. “I’ve heard a lot of shit about him...It took me about a month to get to Night City and even outside of the fuckin’ city, I’d heard things about V...kinda why I didn’t just come and see what had happened when he went radio silent.” Valley muttered, more annoyed than anything. Johnny stared at her for a long moment before she sat up. “I only knew one number of his, and it was a client that got him into Night City...Jackie Welles. Do you know him?” Valley asked and Johnny felt his heart drop at the name. ‘Course he knew him. Knew that V never truly mourned. Felt the ache in his own damn chest from the grief.   
  
“Yeah…” Johnny muttered aloud, staring back at the woman. His heart clenched uncomfortably tight. Valley simply looked back up at him and nodded.   
  
“I mean, hell, I know it was about 2 years ago when V first left, but that was the only contact I had that could even potentially lead me to him…” Valley muttered, sitting up on her elbows. “Then he got kicked out of that stupid fuckin’ Arasaka job, so I couldn’t just ring them up askin’ for V.” Valley continued sitting up fully, leaning her arms against her knees. “Last thing I heard was he got this big gig with some big fixer. Thought it’d make him a legend.” V shrugged, looking back up at Johnny. “Then...nothin’.” Valley shook her head, looking confused by the silent act. “Don’t get me wrong, he would go off the map for a while, sure, but after about 2 months, a girl gets worried, ya know?” Valley asked as Johnny stood silent, watching as she explained herself. Johnny felt himself sigh, glancing back at the clock that sat on the ground beside the bed as it blared an obnoxious red reading 3 am.   
  
“Why don’t I take you to see him yourself?” Johnny asked, placing his gun on the bathroom sink. “If you really are his sister, then you have a lot to catch up on.” Johnny muttered, reaching out his cybernetic hand to help her up off his floor. Valley grabbed his hand, shoving her gun into her holster, looking at the arm for just a moment.   
  
“Where’s he live now?” Valley asked, walking over and grabbing her other gun off of the ground. Johnny, despite himself, watched her bend over. The more he looked at her, the less he could see them as biological brother and sister. For one, V had _no_ ass at all, and despite the long and dramatic trench coat (that hugged this woman’s figure e _xquisitely_ ) Johnny could tell this woman had an ass. And a nice rack on her. “And to think you were someone V would bone.” The woman muttered aloud, forcing Johnny to stop his gawking, only then noticing her staring back at him.   
  
“Sorry princess, but you did come banging on my door like an ex-lover at 3 in the fuckin’ mornin’.” Johnny snarked back with a smirk. The woman scoffed, walking past him towards the door, but Johnny caught the slight color change in her cheeks when she passed. Johnny chuckled lowly as he grabbed the key to V’s AV from from the desk beside the bathroom, shoving his gun into his holster.   
  
“Everythin’ alright in here?” Johnny heard as he popped his head around the corner, seeing that Valley had opened the door and a police officer was standing on the other side. “Got some complaints about gunshots and screamin’.” The officer muttered, looking around Valley into the apartment. Johnny walked up behind her and shook his head.   
  
“Nothing to concern yourself with, _officer_ .” The words were spit out with venom as Johnny leaned against the door, nearly nudging Valley out of the way. “You know the area.” Johnny said with a shrug, glaring back at the man. Looked like the same cop that nearly got that ex-cop down the hall killed for not giving a shit. “We were just headed out.” Johnny stated sharply, grabbing hold of Valley’s arm and hitting his shoulder with the officer’s shoulder as he got out the door, pulling Valley along. The officer chuckled behind him as the door to V’s-er _Johnny’s_ , he guessed, apartment slid shut and locked loudly. Johnny felt his blood boil from the sound.   
  
“Easier just to let people know you were bringin’ a joytoy back to get aggressive with. No need to be called out for a domestic with a cumslut.” The officer muttered aloud. Johnny stopped, just a moment after Valley did. Valley turned a lot quicker around than he did.   
  
“So if you knew that the noise complaints were involving a joytoy or doll, you’d ignore it?” Valley snapped quickly, her fists already in balls as she walked back up to the officer. The officer’s hand went to his hip and Johnny reached for his own gun at his hip.   
  
“Oh, I’m sorry, is being a slut a hard job?” The officer chuckled back down at her. “Is being a cum guzzling whore dangerous?” The officer asked, bending down with a smirk that Johnny suddenly grabbed hold of Valley’s arm and pulled her a step back. “Try being a cop.” The officer continued.   
  
“Not much of a difference.” Valley spit back. “Both get fucked by Corpos all the time. Only difference is that pigs don’t need to be paid extra to swallow.” Valley snapped. Johnny couldn’t help the snort that left his body as he watched the officer’s face drop. The small moment quickly died as the officer pulled his gun from his holster. Johnny quickly pulled Valley from the situation, vaguely hearing the police scream and curse as the two sprinted away from the scene, down the stairs, past the gym and into the elevator, quickly shutting the thing and going up to the roof. Even as they rode upwards, Johnny could hear the officer swearing and screaming. A few shots of gunfire followed. Johnny now laughed as he leaned against the side of the elevator.   
  
“Had my doubts ‘bout you bein’ V’s sister, but after that little show? No doubt.” Johnny chuckled, nodding back down to where they had been. Through the glass, Johnny could see the officer having a tantrum, now across the apartments to better see their elevator going up, looking for another way up to the roof. Johnny turned his attention back to the woman. She had her arms folded, obviously in her own head, glaring at the elevator doors. Johnny could have sworn he felt heat coming off of her. “V never mentioned he had a sister.” Johnny said, changing the subject, leaning against the elevator’s wall. Valley blinked, pulling herself back to where she was before looking over at him.   
  
“Should have just put a bullet to his head.” Valley muttered, looking past Johnny, out to the apartment buildings as they continued climbing higher. “Get rid of at least 1 corrupted fuckin’ cop.” Valley growled, her jaw clenching as she spoke.   
  
“Police station isn’t too far from here if you want to go burn the place to the ground.” Johnny shrugged, folding his own arms. Johnny watched as Valley’s glare slowly faded as she let out a small chuckle.   
  
“Know anyone with explosives?” Valley asked and Johnny nearly doubled over from laughter, but easily kept that in his chest, instead just chuckling. Maybe 50 years ago, but now, he was still new to being alive, let alone knowin’ where to get some more nukes. “Didn’t bring mine with me into the city. Hard enough as is to get into the fuckin’ place without havin’ explosives in the trunk.” Valley chuckled. Johnny stared at her for a moment before chuckling. The elevator doors opened.   
  
“I remember V had to smuggle in some kinda lizard into the City to get in.” Johnny chuckled, walking out the elevator doors. The sound of police sirens weren’t as loud the higher they were. Johnny suspected that one or two might be for the little commotion that Valley caused with the cop down in the apartments, but they wouldn’t even be in the same building when they got to the roof. Only way to get to the roof was by the elevator. Pretty shitty design, but Johnny didn’t give a shit. Place was meant to be torn down anyway, but enough people kept living there that they kept bringing in money into the Corpo’s pockets. Johnny pressed the key to the AV and the AV opened up. Valley followed behind, lookin at the AV and raising an eyebrow. “What? Don’t look like the kinda guy that owns an AV?” Johnny sassed as and got into the AV.   
  
“No, you don’t.” Valley stated as she hesitantly got into the AV. Johnny chuckled as she sat down beside him, flinching as the doors closed.   
  
“Please provide your destination.” The fancy British voice of the AV said.   
  
“V’s place.” Johnny stated, reaching over and grabbing two champagne flutes with clear liquid in them. Johnny knew V filled the fuckers up with vodka instead of the champagne that they were supposed to have in them.   
  
“Noted. En route.” The voice said again.   
  
“Here.” Johnny said, reaching to hand Valley the drink. Valley didn’t move her hand from the arms of her chair. Didn’t even look towards him. Her eyes were fixated on the floor. Johnny looked at her knuckles and saw them going white. “Don’t like flyin’?” Johnny asked with a chuckle in his voice. Valley shook her head.   
  
“Rather drive.” Valley muttered, shutting her eyes tightly as the AV got into the air. Johnny rolled his eyes, drinking the Centzon down.   
  
“Willin’ to stand up to a cop about joytoys than to fly in an AV?” Johnny snarked aloud. Valley glared over at him, snatching the drink from his hand before drinking it all before coughing violently.   
  
“Fuck!” Valley hissed, looking for a place to put the glass down. Johnny moved his own back to its original placement before grabbing the empty one from Valley’s hands. “Jesus!” Valley snapped, glaring over at the vodka flutes. “Couldn’t just be water er somethin’?” Valley snapped, more mad at the two other filled flutes than she was at him. Johnny chuckled, leaning back into his seat, spreading out as he usually did.   
  
“Can’t handle your liquor, princess?” Johnny asked with a smirk, reaching for his sunglasses and finding nothing. Johnny let out a small, displeased grunt at the fact that he couldn’t just materialize the fuckin’ things. Wasn’t expecting to leave the apartment till morning. Wasn’t expecting to be woken the fuck up by V’s long lost sister at 3 in the fuckin’ morning.   
  
“Initiating landing sequence.” The British voice announced. Valley looked both relieved and extremely stressed. Even if she _was_ V’s sister, he could think of _one_ way that she could relax. Johnny found himself adjusting his pants slightly. Fuck he needed a good lay. Shouldn’t be hard. Didn’t have any trouble back in the day... “We have arrived at your destination.” The AV announced. The door opened automatically and Valley quickly got out of the AV. Johnny rolled his eyes as he followed behind. Valley looked up at the penthouse building.   
  
“V lives _here_ ?” Valley asked, gesturing towards the house. Johnny chuckled and nodded. “Oh, I’m going to fucking _kill_ him.” Valley growled lowly, already grabbing one of her pistols.   
  
“Watch the guns, princess, there’s security drones around here.” Johnny chastised, catching up to her as she walked towards the front door. “Pretty sure if they nearly shoot _my_ head off, they’ll take yours off without hesitation. ‘Specially with a gun in your hand.” Johnny muttered as he walked up to the front door. “Put the gun away.” Johnny snapped, nodding at her gun. Valley let out a sharp sigh before doing so. “Now. Stay here.” Johnny stated, taking the few steps up to the building, putting a code into the door. Valley rolled her eyes and folded her arms.   
  
“I’m not a fucking dog.” Valley hissed as Johnny entered the house. Johnny rolled his own eyes as he heard her following behind. Johnny hesitated for a moment as he heard noises in the house. Valley walked in beside him before Johnny grabbed her arm and forced her to stop. Valley glared back up at him before he tapped his ear, indicating her to listen. Valley stopped and listened, as Johnny slowly pulled his gun out. Valley followed suit with the action.   
  
Johnny and Valley slowly headed towards the gun stash. Fuck. Johnny wasn’t prepared. He was just in a tanktop and his leather pants. No bullet proof vest or nothing. Should’ve known he’d find himself in some shit sooner or later. Just expected it to be later and when he actually figured out what he was going to do in regards to money. May have tried out that rockstar life he sorta missed out on when Samurai broke up. After Alt died, he had kind of spiraled out of control...well, not ‘kind of’. He couldn’t remember much from 2013 to 2023. It all seemed like a blur of drugs and alcohol and deals that got him a nuke or two. It was a blur, and as much as V insisted that he needed to go to therapy for it, Johnny honestly felt at ease after coming back. New body and all kinda helped. Well he did feel at ease...did before he had a gun in his hand in V’s house. Johnny looked over at Valley and counted down from 3. Gave her a second or 2 to process, but that’s all she needed as she nodded back. Johnny counted silently aloud before hitting the door’s button that made it open.   
  
“Oh my God!” Valley screamed, quickly averting her eyes from the scene. Johnny let out a good laugh. The source of the noise? V fucking Kerry...or rather he had been for about a second before Johnny got to fully witness what V looked like while blowing his load. Had the pleasure of having an up close and personal _experience_ when V and Kerry trashed and burned that shitty record guys’ yacht.   
  
“Johnny get the fuck out!” Kerry snapped as V quickly pulled out and looked mortified at the whole thing. Johnny laughed, leaning against the doorframe, much to both Kerry and V’s discomfort as the both grabbed something to hide themselves. Kerry going for a more modest plant while V grabbed a machine gun.   
  
“Forget that I’ve been in your head when you did this the first time?” Johnny asked V as he ushered Johnny out of his little armoury and shoved past him, rushing up the stairs. “You forget when _we_ -” Johnny got out before Kerry punched him in the stomach, making him bite his tongue and fall to a knee from the force and cough. “T-Touchy subject?” Johnny coughed as Kerry quickly ran up the stairs after V. Johnny laughed with a hiss as he stood up, holding his stomach for a moment longer, trying to subside the pain by sure willpower.   
  
Didn’t miss that. Didn’t miss the raw pain of bein’ alive. When he was with V, he got a small snippet of emotions and feelings. None ever compared to the real thing. The only one that came close was whenever V thought about Jackie; gave him a call and left a voicemails whenever anything of importance happened. That was something that always hit Johnny with full force. Johnny walked back into the living room, noticing a slight breeze to his right. His eyes turned towards the source and saw Valley leaning up against the guard rail. Johnny walked out onto the terrace and leaned beside her, pulling a cigarette from his case in his pocket and putting it in his mouth. The lack of nicotine that V took in when Johnny was in his head really changed him. _V_ really changed him. It was just a habit now. He didn’t light the thing. Just needed a little familiarity, but the taste didn’t do as much as it once did...even with a new and not-fucked-up clone body.   
  
“Was...was that Kerry Eurodyne?” Valley asked after a moment of silence. Johnny looked back over at her. Even in the neon lights, he could see that her face was flushed still. Johnny chuckled, feeling it go through his whole body. That was something he also wasn’t used to. Feeling so...so _light_ . Sure, corpos were still shit, Arasaka was still around and doing shady shit and hell, the world was in a worse state than when he flatlined and got trapped in an Arasaka mind prison, but...he was _alive_ . And Adam Smasher was dead...and so was Rogue. The lightness was quickly replaced with guilt. Johnny nodded his head, not letting guilt take over as he spoke. “And you’re some Johnny Silverhand impersonator, right?” Valley asked, leaning on one arm to turn and look at him. Johnny raised an eyebrow back at her. “You’re all in this poly relationship, but you forgot it was Kerry’s night with V.” Valley stated, looking serious as she spoke. “V and I really liked Samurai growing up so it makes a little sense that he’d fuck anyone in the band he could get his hands on.” Valley shrugged. Johnny stared back at her before laughing.   
  
“Disappointed you didn’t cash in on that option?” Johnny asked playfully. Valley raised an eyebrow back at him. “You know, Johnny was known as a player.” Johnny chuckled with a wink of his eye and a wiggle of his eyebrows. Valley snorted and shook her head. Johnny should have saved that for later. Her face was still a light pink from earlier and he couldn’t tell if she was even remotely affected by his words. “That your final guess on what he’s been up to?” Johnny asked, raising his eyebrow while leaning now to look at her. “That your brother ditched you to get kabobed by the leading men in Samurai?” Johnny asked playfully. Valley let out a snort through her nose before laughing.   
  
“Oh God ew!” Valley said through her laughter. “I don’t want to think about _that_ !” Valley snapped through her laughter, punching Johnny in the arm before reeling back as she hit his metal arm. “Fuck!” Valley hissed, looking at her hand and then his arm. Johnny chuckled at the action, as she shook her hand and walked away from the rail. “Even went as far as choppin’ your arm off?” Valley asked, looking back up at Johnny. Johnny opened and closed his left hand, looking at the metal arm.   
  
“You could say I wasn’t made with one.” Johnny said, leaning backwards against the railing now. A cool breeze blew against his back, sending a shiver up his spine. Despite global warming and all the shit they were doing to keep the little piece of ice in Antarctica frozen still, it meant that summers were _hot_ and winters were _cold_ . Johnny couldn’t even imagine the weather after 50 years. It was in the middle of October, and that was the first cold breeze Johnny had felt. Didn’t help that Night City was beside the ocean.   
  
“Alright, what the fuck is so fuckin’ important that you need to show up here at nearly 4 in the fuckin’ mornin’?” V asked angrily as he walked out of his house and onto the terrace. Couldn’t really take him seriously as he was wearing a frilly little robe. Johnny didn’t say a word, only nodded towards Valley. Johnny watched as V turned and the anger in his face suddenly disappeared. Valley’s face was slow to respond. The two looked shocked to see the other. “V-Valley?” V asked hesitantly. Johnny watched as the anger V once had on his face was transferred to Valley’s. “What are you doi-” V got out before Valley walked up to him and punched him in the face. And then continued to punch him and tackle him to the ground and beat the shit out of him.   
  
“Hey hey hey! Knock it off!” Kerry snapped as he came running out in a similar skimpy little bathrobe that V was wearing, grabbing hold of Valley and trying to pull the girl off V. Valley was so caught up in beating the shit out of her brother that she didn’t even realize that she elbowed Kerry in the nose. Kerry let out a sharp hiss as blood came rushing out of his nose. “Little help Johnny.” Kerry snapped back at Johnny who had just stood and watched it all happen. Johnny rolled his eyes as he went and grabbed Valley and tore her off of V, his cigarette dropping in the process. Despite her desperate attempts to continue beating the shit out of V, Johnny pulled her off of him.   
  
“You _promised_ me, Vincent!” Valley screamed as Johnny physically picked her up and held her from V as he lay on the ground. Valley kicked and screamed, trying to get Johnny to let her go, but luckily, the new cybernetic arm was helping keeping her restrained. “You promised, Vince, you _promised me_ !” Valley continued to scream, but now Johnny had the unpleasant feeling of tears drip onto his arms. His cybernetic one was advanced, so he could feel the gentle droplets, but his non-cyber arm felt like they were heavier. Kerry was now kneeling beside V as he sat up. V’s nose was bleeding, he had a cut on his cheek and his head and would have a hell of a bruise under his eye. Johnny didn’t have to be in V’s body to know that hurt...but it wasn’t the physical hurt that V was worried about. He looked as if his heart was breaking and Johnny could almost feel the phantom feelings as if they were his own. Valley soon slowed down her kicking and screaming that it stopped all together. Johnny slowly put Valley onto the ground where she seemed to crumple up. A heart wrenching sob left her mouth as she sat on her knees, her hands on the ground to steady herself, but even they didn’t look sturdy.   
  
“Valerie, Valley, please, Val _fuck_ , I’m-I’m so-I’m so sorry.” Johnny took a step back from the scene as he watched V crawl over to Valley, grabbing onto her hand tightly. That only made Valley sob even harder. V pulled Valley into his arms and let out his own sob. “Val I’m sorry, please, Valley, please I’m so fucking sorry.” V sobbed as the two held each other. Johnny walked around them and grabbed Kerry’s arm as he looked at the scene, confused and obviously distraught at it all.   
  
“Come on, Ker, let’s give them some privacy.” Johnny muttered as he pulled Kerry into the house with a little force.   
  
“What the fuck is going on?” Kerry asked, blood from his nose still running down his face. Johnny led him into the kitchen and turned on the faucet before grabbing a towel and running it under the cool water. “Johnny, who the fuck is that?” Kerry asked as Johnny handed him the wet towel as Kerry continued to stare out where they both knew V and Valley were. Johnny knew Kerry was concerned, but he also felt the hint of jealousy in his tone.   
  
“That’s his sister.” Johnny stated seriously. Shock and disbelief crossed Kerry’s face. Johnny only sighed, grabbing a fresh cigarette from his pocket and lighting it up.   
  



	2. Unburden

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Howdy hey howdy ho I'm feral and back at it again! Sorry these are so short, I'm tired and also...feral.   
> Strong language and yadayada nothing too graphic.  
> Thanks to anyone reading!! I love you!!!

With some coaxing, Valley and V were ushered inside. The wind had picked up and it was getting far colder than V was prepared for. V’s face hurt but not as much as the ache in his heart at what he did to Valley. Valley walked and sat on the couch near the front door, her arms crossed tightly and motioning for V to sit. Kerry brought over a washcloth and cleaned his face off as he sat on the coffee table across from Valley.    
  
“Valley, by the way.” Valley muttered up at Kerry. Kerry raised an eyebrow back at her, glancing over at V. Johnny’s chuckle was the only thing that was heard.    
  
“Kerry.” Kerry replied back, looking V’s face over once more before walking away to grab an ice bag.    
  
“All right.” Valley stated, looking at V. “Spill.” Valley muttered lowly. V let out a small sigh, leaning his elbows on his knees.    
  
“The big heist...the one that was supposed to make me rich and legendary, remember?” V asked, looking back at Valley who nodded. “Went to shit.” V started. “Got this ‘Relic’ that was so expensive, but things got fucked when Saburo Arasaka was killed by Yorinobu Arasaka and me and -” V stopped himself, the feeling nearly overwhelming him as he remembered even just the smallest thing about Jackie. Kerry walked back over with an ice pack and sat beside V. V sighed at the cool package against his face. Kerry made V hold the ice pack, giving his hand a gentle squeeze, staying for a moment longer, looking at V to tell him what to do. V shook his head and nodded. Kerry only nodded back, standing up and kissing his head and going upstairs. An unspoken understanding...Kerry had a long flight to get back a day early to surprise V. “Listen, the heist went to shit and Jackie died, okay?” V snapped, feeling the anger boil in his blood. Valley’s face quickly changed from the stoic look to a much softer one. V hated it. Didn’t want to feel sympathy. Spent nearly 8 months not letting it get to him...not letting himself really...V shook his head.   
  
“V.” Valley stated softly, making the knot in Valley’s chest tighten. V quickly grabbed hold of the bottle of Centzon and opened it, taking a long drink. When he opened his eyes, Valley had her own eyes shut. She hated it when he drank...but V needed it. Needed it anytime he talked about Jackie…    
  
“Shoved a biochip in my head that was considered the Relic, then was betrayed by my fixer and shot in the head.” V continued his explanation, taking another long drink from the bottle before Johnny grabbed the thing from him. “Hey!” V snapped, as Johnny walked around him and sat on the opposite end of the couch Valley sat at.   
  
“Woke up in a landfill.” Johnny began, closing the lid on the bottle. “With me in his head.” Johnny continued, placing the bottle down beside him. “Had to have some serious stuff done to get ‘im back to functioning...well, sort of functioning.” Johnny said, leaning back and spreading his legs out. “See, that Relic in his head saved his sorry ass from becoming worm food.” Johnny continued, obviously living off the attention he was getting. V rolled his eyes.   
  
“It saved me and then started killin’ me.” V grumbled back, pulling Valley’s attention back to him. “Biochip in my head had a personality construct on it. Which was Johnny Silverhand’s.” V stated, gesturing back at Johnny. Valley looked between the two, obviously confused.    
  
“So...you’re telling me that...that he’s like, legit, Johnny Silverhand.” Valley asked, pointing over at Johnny as he sat on the couch end opposite of her own.   
  
“Out of all the questions…” V muttered lowly, pulling the ice pack from his face before hissing from the cool air that hit it afterwards and putting it back on.   
  
“Technically, I’m a clone with my own construct put into it.” Johnny said helpfully from the sidelines. V sent a glare back at him while Valley chuckled. “See, the reason the biochip in V’s head was killin’ him was because when he got shot, he died, so the biochip thought V was just a corpse. So when V woke up, the biochip started killin’ all the good parts of him, brain neurons, functioning organs later on and so on.” Johnny shrugged casually. “Relic was gonna override  _ his  _ personality with mine...Started to slowly become one another until my construct had taken over fully.” Johnny continued far too casually for V’s liking. V glared back at him once more. Johnny rolled his eyes. “Hey, you’re obviously alive and well, so the story has a good ending.” Johnny snarked back when he caught sight of V’s face. V rolled his eyes, turning back towards Valley.    
  
“Johnny and I…” V began and stopped, thinking for a moment. “It was like our minds were touching.” V began to try and explain what had happened with Johnny. “He could see my memories and I could see his. He was like this little ear worm in my head; only thing was that I was the only one who could hear the fucker. Only I could see him. And the more time that went on, the more in control he seemed.” V explained uneasily, still feeling an urge for a cigarette, even now. “Took some pills to keep him from fully takin’ over, gave him the reins sometimes. He knew me and I knew him.” V shrugged, not even wanting to look over at Johnny. “Take a bullet for him.” V said, now glancing back at the man in question. It was soft and almost invisible, but V could see Johnny’s smile. Valley remained silent, simply watching the exchange. “Had to go through a bunch of fuckin’ hoops to get to anyone who could even remotely help me. Ended up getting in contact with Hanako Arasaka for some help.” V muttered. Valley let out a scoff, folding her arms and leaning back into the couch. V raised an eyebrow at her.   
  
“Got out of Arasaka’s lair only to be lured back in?” Valley asked with venom in her words. V rolled his eyes back at her. “What’d you have to do, V, sell your soul?” Valley snapped back, sitting up a bit to make sure he  _ knew  _ she was pissed. Always was good at making him feel guilty.   
  
“Almost.” V joked but quickly shut his mouth with the glare that Valley sent back. “All I had to do was not kill Yorinobu Arasaka when I got into Arasaka Towers to get into their mainframe which held a totally different construct that wasn’t even really a construct, that helped split Johnny and I up since the biochip was slowly taking over my body and I was slowly becoming him.” V explained thoroughly, yet quickly. It was nearly 5 am. He wanted to get  _ some _ rest… “So, got that figured out, and Johnny gave me my body back-”   
  
“Not without you trying to beat my cyberdata ass to a pulp.” Johnny muttered from the side. V sent a stern glare back at him, indicating for him to shut up. Johnny rolled his eyes, putting up his hands defensively.    
  
“I was put back into my body, but I just couldn’t accept that this stupid fuckin’ rockerboy that had been in my head for nearly 2 months was gone.” V explained, glancing back at Johnny. “So, I spent the next 5 months finding out a way to save the both of us, since I was still dying at the time before we even got to the idea of cloning.” V continued explaining himself. Valley sat deadly quiet as she listened. “Came to me when I got in a street fight in Kabuki, tryin’ to just forget that I was still dyin’... Fought these two twins that had split their personalities into two bodies. Didn’t really have a twin, but the idea of clones came to mind...So I thought, why couldn’t I just create a clone? So I did...with a lot of people’s help.” V explained, feeling a little giddy at all that had happened. He saved himself, but most importantly, he saved Johnny Silverhand. “Created clones of me and Silverhand, switched out our engrams into the clones, bimbamboom, we’re both alive and,  _ well _ , in bodies that won’t rot away. One’s that we both have our own control over.” V said with a small smile that quickly faded as he looked over at Valley. Valley was looking down at her hands. Her jaw tight, her mouth clenched shut, one of her legs was bouncing anxiously.    
  
“Why didn’t you call?” Valley asked, the question knocking the wind out of V’s high that he had from just thinking about his brilliant plan. Valley didn’t look up. V felt the knot in his chest move to his throat.   
  
“I didn’t want to worry you.” V muttered, rubbing the back of his neck hesitantly. Valley quickly looked up at him and glared.   
  
“ _ Bullshit _ .” Valley snapped freezing V in his spot. “If you didn’t want to worry me, you’d have picked up your stupid fuckin’ holo...given me a fuckin’ lie.” Valley continued, suddenly standing up from her anger. “ _ Hey Val, it’s been hella busy here, how’s it goin’, how’s life? I’m doin’ okay, just busy. _ ” Valley snapped aloud, mimicking his own voice as she started pacing in front of the couch she had once been sat on. V looked down for a moment.    
  
“Val I-”   
  
“He was a fucking mess.” Johnny said aloud, stopping Valley from pacing and made both V and Valley look his way. “After Jackie died, all V did for a month was gig after gig after gig.” Johnny explained and V felt his skin crawl. “Didn’t take care of himself, ignored everyone’s calls, besides fixers givin’ him jobs. Only reason he knew about Jackie’s funeral was because his mom messaged V and told him that the funeral was on a certain day and then on that day, V finally picked up the holo.” Johnny explained, sitting up a bit, looking over at V. V could tell he felt a little bad about telling Valley all of this for V’s sake, but not as much as V would have liked him to feel. “Went to his funeral and started gettin’ his shit together. Started focusin’ on getting the chip out of his head and started figuring out how to do that.” Johnny shrugged, leaning back once more. Valley didn’t seem as pleased with the explanation...and why would she be.    
  
“How did…” Valley began, looking down for a moment before looking back over at Johnny. “Your minds touched and you both saw memories of the other…” Valley muttered aloud. “How...why didn’t you know who I was?” Valley asked, sounding pathetically sad. V felt the sharp intake of breath enter his nostrils. Johnny looked at Valley for a moment before glancing over at V.   
  
“There’s certain memories we both didn’t let the other see.” Johnny shrugged. “I didn’t show him certain memories of my past and he kept most of his childhood locked up pretty tightly.” Johnny explained truthfully. V looked back over at Valley hesitantly. Valley looked at Johnny before sitting back down on the couch. “I’m pretty sure I’d remember a pretty face like yours.” Johnny stated seriously, making V snap his head back towards him and glare as Johnny smirked and winked back at Valley. Luckily, V didn’t turn his head back to Valley before seeing Johnny get hit in the face with a pillow. V chuckled softly, looking back at Valley. Valley had the usual pink across her cheeks now, the one that always spread across her cheeks and nose from any kind of comment like Johnny’s, bringing out the dark colors of her freckles only seemed to grow in numbers from years in the sun. “I mean, you said that you both liked Samurai growing up, I just assumed that, you know, with the assumption I’ve been with V I could get with his sist-” Now V threw a pillow at Johnny. Light laughter filled the air as Johnny caught the other pillow.    
  
“Val, you’re welcome to the couch, Johnny, you’re welcome to fuck off.” V said, shaking his head, feeling the knots throughout him subside, even just for a moment. V stood up and walked towards the stairs.   
  
“I got a compromise.” Johnny said and V could already feel the comment coming as he stopped on the first step, looking back at Johnny. “Valley girl and I  _ both  _ get the couch  _ and  _ fuck off on-” Johnny said aloud before Valley quickly got up and grabbed a pillow, shoving the thing over his face. V shook his head as he watched V slowly suffocate Johnny with a pillow as he continued to laugh under it. V shook his head as he walked up the stairs. A thud made him look down at the scene. Johnny had grabbed the pillow and was now trying to suffocate Valley on the floor.   
  
“You got this Val?” V asked as he leaned against the railings. A moment of mumbling passed before Johnny let out a sharp hiss of pain, reaching for his junk and falling backwards. Valley rolled backwards and stood up, jumping just a little as she did.   
  
“Yup!” Valley called back up, giving him a thumbs up. As V turned, he could see that Johnny had gotten back up and went to tackle Valley, but V didn’t hear another thud when Kerry walked out of the bathroom and leaned over the railing.   
  
“It is now getting close to 5 am.” Kerry snapped, pulling everyone’s attention up to him as he leaned against the railing. “Listen, I’m an aging rockstar who needs his beauty rest, so please, would everyone, shut. The. Fuck. Up!” Kerry snapped. V only got a glimpse of Johnny flipping Kerry off and V doing the same, with Johnny holding onto the collar of Valley’s trenchcoat before Kerry grabbed onto V’s shirt collar. “And you-” Kerry snapped, pulling V into the bathroom. “I don’t think I said I was done with you.” Kerry purred as he closed the bathroom door behind him.

* * *

Valley sat in a lawn chair looking out at the city. Her trenchcoat was wrapped tightly around her as her knees went up to her chest, trying to keep the warmth in. It was getting colder and V could see her breath as she sat in silence. The city never really ‘slept’, but at 6:30 in the morning, there was a lull about the neon city. Valley didn’t sleep. She rarely did whenever she had to come to Night City and despite V’s nice and safe and fancy penthouse, it didn’t help. Her mind was buzzing far too much. Her skin crawled, or maybe it was a shiver, Valley didn’t know the difference at this point. She never really felt at home in her own skin after all the shit that went down. Could only blow up and torch so many shitty places before feelin’ like the shitpile never ended.   
  
“Does it get any colder?” Valley flinched as a voice broke the semi-quiet atmosphere. Valley turned and looked at who was talking. Johnny Silverhand. Not just some impersonator, _ no _ , the real one. It was still a little baffling. The only good thing about V not mentioning / keeping Valley locked away in his memories from Silverhand was that he would 100% use most of her childhood teenage rebellion to tease her. Could honestly use most of her childhood to tease her. “Been dead for a good 50 years.” Johnny muttered aloud, now wearing what looked like an old Samurai jacket. Valley didn’t say a word regarding that. Didn’t need him knowing how obsessed she had become at one point with the band. “Still have that little piece of ice in Antarctica?” Johnny asked, plopping himself down in the lawn chair besides her. Valley raised an eyebrow at him, noticing the steaming mug in his hand.   
  
“Not the real thing.” Valley said, shaking her head, putting her feet down as he spread himself out. Seemed to be a trademark of his... “Have some artificial ice blocks up there they watch. Put new ones in recently, may be why it’s gettin’ so fuckin’ cold.” Valley shrugged, making sure her trenchcoat stayed tightly around her to keep the cold out. “This how you used to get girls back in the day, Silverhand? Talkin’ about the weather?” Valley teased back at him.    
  
“No,” Johnny said with a shake of his head. “But is it workin’?” Johnny asked playfully back, making Valley snort and shake her head.    
  
“Nope. Have to do a little better than askin’ about the weather.” Valley sassed back. “Plus, negative points for walking out here with only one cup of coffee and not two.” Valley pouted playfully back, keeping the fluttering in her stomach from spreading across her face at the look he gave back. Valley had seen some old footage of Samurai on stage and off stage and interviews and far too many other clips that she scoured the net for, but none had actually prepared her for seeing the real Johnny Silverhand in person and none would prepare her for how he looked at her like he could devour her in a minute.    
  
“V doesn’t drink coffee, and I’m not about to waste coffee with Kerry around. He’ll lose his fuckin’ head.” Johnny snarked back, taking an obnoxious sip of coffee after staring at Valley for a moment longer than she knew was appropriate. “Ahh, the expensive shit.” Johnny exclaimed aloud, making Valley glare back at him with a huff. “You know, princess, there is more on the pot inside.” Johnny said, kicking his feet up against the railing that was close to the lawn chairs. “Stay out of the armoury though.” Johnny warned playfully. Valley let out a groan as she stood up and stretched. She had been sitting in the shitty little lawn chair since V went to bed...or at least said he was. Valley got a little tired of hearing soft moans and went outside. Johnny had decided to take the couch anyway and despite sort of wanting to take him up on the offer to share the couch, she went outside instead.    
  
“Jesus, how much fuckin’ jizz do they have?” Valley grumbled, leaning back against the rail and popping her back. Valley shut her eyes at the sensation. Johnny snorted.   
  
“You want the honest answer? ‘Cause I can tell you how much both-” Johnny got out as Valley’s eyes snapped back open.   
  
“No!” Valley snapped, already walking towards the house. Johnny’s laugh was a lot louder than she would have liked. She knew he wasn’t kidding and she wasn’t about to hear the statistics of her brother and his lover’s cum to jizz ratio. Valley shivered at the thought as she got back into the house.    
  
Another little shiver ran up her spine from the warmth as she walked into the kitchen, making sure to avoid the armoury door like the plague and keeping her ears closed, deciding to hum quietly to keep her mind occupied. Valley went over and began opening cabinets before finding a mug she could use. Valley poured the near black liquid into the mug, smelling the roasted bean juice aroma and nearly laughing at her own stupid description of it. Valley took a sip and nodded, before turning to walk back outside. It  _ was _ expensive. Well, Valley was used to cheap shit from vending machines, so this tasted like pure caffeine which was obviously a lot more expensive than anything Valley was used to. She’d be jumping off the walls in an hour. Maybe with it being expensive, that would keep her from needing to shit her guts out as well.    
  
Valley walked to her seat, slowing down as the sun was beginning to peek through the buildings. Something so eerily calm about seeing the sun blocked out by buildings compared to being woken up by how bright it was while on the road. It depended on where she was, but she remembered the Midwest with its open and deserted planes being extra bright. Usually stayed around there. That’s where it was most calm. Valley took a breath in as she continued walking.   
  
“Future reference, Silverhand.” Valley muttered, walking and shoving Johnny’s feet from the railing and walking to sit on the chair she had claimed earlier. Johnny sent a sharp look her way. “No matter what kind, just a plain black coffee for me.” Valley stated snobbishly as she sat down in her chair as eloquently as one could in a trenchcoat and tight jeans.    
  
“Good to know.” Johnny muttered aloud as Valley took a sip of the coffee once more, trying not to burn her tongue. “That mean we’ll be spendin’ more early mornings or late nights together?” Valley nearly choked. Johnny only chuckled lowly. “Hey, that’s not a yes or no. Didn’t you say that you and V liked Samurai? I’m just sayin’, princess, V has Kerry and you can easily have m-” Valley forced the coffee down as she tried not to choke on the hot coffee before reaching over and shoving him as hard as she could. To her delight, the lawn chair tipped over and down went Johnny Silverhand... _ and  _ his coffee. Valley didn’t even try to hide the cackling that left her throat as she watched the expensive coffee spill onto the terrace.   
  
“Bein’ dead really has slowed down your reflexes, huh, Silverhand?” Valley snarked, watching as he glared back at her. Valley felt herself moving automatically as she stood up, already feeling some type of retaliation coming. “Need I remind you of Kerry’s expensive coffee?” Valley sassed as she began walking backwards as Johnny practically hopped up, staring back at her.    
  
“Would have if  _ mine  _ weren’t all over the fuckin’ ground.” Johnny muttered aloud, already walking towards her.  _ Fuck _ it felt more like stalking. Valley kept one hand out in front of her as she continued walking backwards, taking another long drink of the coffee, hoping it would give her a jolt of energy. Valley turned and quickly walked around through the front door of the house.   
  
“I’m just tryin’ to teach you a valuable lesson, Johnny dear.” Valley snarked as she felt her heart flutter seeing how quickly he had caught up to her.    
  
“Mhm, and what’s that?” Johnny asked in a near growl. Valley bit her tongue as she stopped in her tracks, letting Johnny walk fully up to her as they stood just inside the house, the front door shutting behind Johnny. Valley kept the gulp from being visible as she looked at him. He was a lot taller than she was. Her optics said he was about 186 centimeters tall, while she knew she was 161 on a good day. Even with her combat boots, that only gave her an extra 5cm to her height, so it wasn’t that helpful. The way he  _ looked _ at her was once again a factor of why she bit her tongue. Valley took in a deep breath. She  _ wasn’t  _ about to let any of that distract her from being an absolute shithead. Valley grabbed his jacket lightly and pulled him down, making sure to keep from being drawn in by how dark his eyes looked at the action...or in general.   
  
“Never let your guard down.” Valley nearly whispered before sweeping his feet from under him and stepping around him as he fell.   
  
“Oh, you are such a fuckin’  _ cunt _ .” Johnny snapped loudly as Valley turned, walking backwards towards the kitchen.   
  
“‘Course I am!” Valley chirped happily as he slowly got up, rubbing his back. “I have one so may as well be one!” Valley snarked, sticking out her tongue and winking at him. Valley could hear his chuckle and felt herself smile as she turned back around and walked into the kitchen area, drinking the rest of her coffee before putting the mug into the sink.   
  
“Val, do you ever sleep?” Valley turned, looking up the stairs and saw V slowly coming down them with an awful bedhead...and a large black eye. Luckily, his nose wasn’t broken...or at least  _ too  _ broke to fix that Valley could see. Valley felt a little bad...but only a little. Valley shook her head.   
  
“Nope! Not in this shithole of a city.” Valley chirped back up at him with a smile. V let out a sharp groan. “You look like shit.” Valley smiled cheerfully as Johnny walked into the kitchen, empty mug in hand, sending a sharp glare towards Valley. V rolled his eyes. At the comment, at Johnny, at all of it.   
  
“Yeah, well, someone decided that I needed the shit kicked out of me.” V muttered, walking over and grabbing a mug before filling it with coffee. “Hey, there’s a dishwasher for a reason.” V grumbled as Johnny tried to put his mug into the sink. “ _ Both _ of you, there’s a dishwasher.” V grumbled, grabbing Johnny’s mug from his hand and grabbing Valley’s mug from the sink, waving the mugs at the both of them before putting them in the dishwasher. “ _ Fuckin’ kids. _ ” V muttered, pouring 2 creams and 3 sugar packets into the coffee. Valley nearly gagged at the concoction.    
  
“Hey dickhead, I’m older than you are.” Johnny snarked, leaning against the kitchen’s island. Valley could see the small cut on his cheek from where she had punched him. Plus she had elbowed Kerry Eurodyne in the face too. Man, she was just beating the shit out of everyone huh. V rolled his eyes back at Johnny.    
  
“Technically, you’re only a week old.” V snarked, sipping his coffee before grimacing and going back for more sugar.    
  
“Or a prehistoric creature, if you want to go by your birthday.” Valley said with a shrug, going over and swatting V from taking 5 more sugar packets from the little container of them. V huffed back at her, going for more sugar anyways. “Cybernetics can do so much, but -  _ don’t drink that much sugar, it’s bad for you  _ \- but you look a lot better than most people who are nearly -  _ V stop _ \- 90.” Valley said, speaking to both V and Johnny as she practically climbed on top of V to stop his onslaught of sugar into his already too fucking light brown color it had disolved into. In spite, V simply opened the packets and dumped them onto his tongue. Valley let out an annoyed huff, crossing her arms at the action while V simply smiled.    
  
“Oh, so you know when my birthday is?” Johnny asked, bringing Valley’s and V’s attention over to him as he smirked back at Valley. Valley’s brows furrowed for a moment before she realized her mistake. So much for keeping it a secret how much she liked Samurai. She wasn’t good at keeping secrets. Wasn’t good at keeping a poker face either. Valley could already feel her cheeks warming up in embarrassment.    
  
“Come on now, leave the baby alone.” V sassed, gently pulling Valley into a side hug. “It’s hard meeting an idol and acting normal.” V said in a baby voice, making Valley quickly get out from his apparent loving side and punch him in his gut, making him bend over and grumble.    
  
“Y-you’re not-” Valley got out, feeling the heat in her face grow warmer as she sputtered out, looking back up at Johnny who looked far too fuckin’ smug. Valley let out a sharp huff as she smacked V upside the head. “Asswipe.” Valley muttered as V rubbed the back of his head, standing up and sharing the same stupid fuckin’ smug look that Johnny had as well. Maybe the two hadn’t gotten fully separated when they got their own personalities back. The idea made Valley want to  _ fucking  _ die if she had to deal with either of them in doubles. “Aren’t you supposed to be sleeping with an aging rockstar?” Valley snarked back at V. V looked over at Johnny and already she knew what was coming.   
  
“I already-”   
  
“ _ Did _ , yeah fuckin’ yeah.” Valley muttered back, finishing V’s sentence for him. “Really spent far too fuckin’ long in each other’s mindspace, huh?” Valley grumbled, looking between Johnny and V. Two fuckin’ pals.    
  
“Wouldn’t wish that fate on anyone else, ‘specially you.” V said back sullenly with a shake of his head, looking down before looking back up at Valley and winking. Valley hit V’s arm as he laughed. “Plus, this dickhead gets hella annoying.” V said, looking back over at Johnny. Johnny rolled his eyes ever so dramatically.    
  
“Didn’t think I was annoyin’ enough to leave in Cyberspace though.” Johnny snarked back, folding his arms. V swatted towards him, his attention on the ringing of a holo. V suddenly stood up straight and gave both Valley and Johnny the ‘give me a second’ finger wag before walking over and into his armoury. “Still has the fuckin’ Corpo trainin’ in him.” Johnny muttered disgustingly as he watched V. Valley snorted.   
  
“You ever see his Arasaka memories?” Valley asked. “Fuck, I remember callin’ him when he was at work once and nearly showed up in Night City to torch the fuckin’ Arasaka tower to get my brother back.” Valley said with a laugh.    
  
“And you say I’m  _ not  _ your idol.” Johnny said with his own laugh making Valley blink back at him and roll her eyes. “Come on princess, torchin’ the fuckin’ place is  _ so _ 2023.” Johnny said with a slow smirk. Valley let her snort turn into a genuine laugh. The way he said it. How accurate it was. Fuck, Johnny Silverhand should have nicknamed himself Johnny Silvertongue with how stupidly witty the fucker was. Then again, seeing how he interacted with  _ her _ , Valley knew it wasn’t a good idea to bring up that name change to him. V emerged from his armoury, looking stressed as he came and leaned against the island. “How’s the time off soundin’ now?” Johnny asked, looking at V with a sort of concern. V simply rubbed his temples, just between where his cybernetic implants were. Valley didn’t understand why he would get them once he got a new cloned body...Valley only then noticed the blue flower on his neck. A reminder... _ that’s  _ why he had them do his cybernetic implants in the clone…   
  
“ _ Johnny _ …” V muttered, shutting his eyes, exasperated by whatever he was exasperated about.    
  
“How hard-”   
  
“ _ Don’t _ .” V didn’t even let Johnny finish his sentence before looking back up at him sharply. “Honestly, the hardest fuckin’ thing is to get mercs and solos and netrunners who actually  _ want  _ to do the work.” V muttered, rubbing his head quickly, messing up his hair before attempting to slide it back. Valley raised an eyebrow at him, hoping her non-verbal question was brought up. V looked at Valley and sighed. “Right…” V said, looking a little guilty. “Forgot to mention that I’m a fixer now.” V said, rubbing the back of his neck. Valley’s brows raised at that before she laughed with a smile.   
  
“Well fuck, finally.” Valley said with a smile. Valley could see V slowly untense. “I mean, I was kinda worried with ya having this huge idolization of, ya know,  _ dying  _ to become a legend, so like, this is so much better.” Valley said, reaching and touching his hand that lay on the island. “And from what I’ve heard just getting into the city, you seem to be a  _ living  _ legend anyway, so like, you becoming a fixer with a status of living legend? You’re probably hella busy.” Valley said with a smile that quickly spread to V. “I mean, don’t get me fuckin’ wrong, not calling me for 8 fuckin’ months is still hella shitty of you, but hey, at least you’re not dead!” Valley chirped, genuinely happy for V.    
  
All his life, V was a sort of lost puppy. When the two were growing up, V wanted to be a cyber-cowboy and run around catching bad guys, obviously. Valley wanted to be a horse. Luckily, as the two grew up, they grew out of  _ those  _ phases. Unfortunately, that meant actually wanting to do and be things in life. V never really knew but Valley did. Valley wanted to become a BD editor. She loved all of the BD’s she got her hands on, which wasn’t a lot since the clan moved around a lot to really find anything worthwhile. She tried a lot of different ways to get the rawest forms of BD’s she could to better understand how they all worked, to understand what could be done with them and what would be the best content. She found a lot of porn related ones, which was what everyone  _ really  _ liked. She thought more calming experiences were something that could actually help people relax, without the whole jacking off aspect. And one day she got the chance to see how a BD was made…Valley shoved the memories back as far as her mind would let her. V had wanted to be important in the Corpo life since the clan was slowly falling apart. Valley wanted to watch the world burn. Now V was a living legend and Valley had burned and torched a good part of the country.    
  
“Anything I can do to make it up to you?” V asked genuinely before he snapped his fingers and pointed towards her. “Actually, I have someone I want you ta meet.” V said excitedly. “Doubt she’s awake right now, but who knows…” V said, turning and walking back into the armoury. Valley raised an eyebrow, looking over at Johnny and gesturing towards the door.    
  
“Got a pretty good idea who he’s referrin’ to.” Johnny stated, looking amused. Valley stared back at him, watching as V walked out of the armoury with a smile.   
  
“You bring that shitty car of yours?” V asked, making Valley glare back at him, folding her arms before nodding hesitantly. “Great!” V said with a bright smile, turning and leaving the kitchen, walking over to the stairs.    
  
“Wait-who-what’s happening?” Valley asked, walking around the island and stopping at the bottom of the stairs as V seemed to leap up them.   
  
“We’re goin’ to the Badlands.” V said cheerfully as he left her sight. Valley stared up the stairs for a moment longer before looking back at Johnny, trying to get any explanation of things.    
  
“Only one person out there that I think V’d want you to meet.” Johnny said with a little chuckle. Valley stared back at him, waiting for an explanation she knew wasn’t going to be that explained. “Nomad with an ass  _ almost  _ as exquisite as yours.” Johnny said with a smirk, making Valley roll her eyes so hard she swore she could see the inside of her skull. “Her name’s Panam...and she’s…” Johnny said with a shake of his head. “She’s a Nomad.” And that was all that was explained to Valley. 


End file.
